when events are too big ...

I have a project I'm working on and it has so much media that it's slowing my system down. Nothing catastrophic, but a lot of waiting (and watching titles type themselves a few seconds after I've typed them). I basically have two large libraries and multiple projects that draw on each of them. I'm wondering if there's a better way to structure this. I need to have access to both libraries, but is there a way to set this up so I don't run into this problem? I'm not even sure what's slowing me down. Is it the large amounts of media, large numbers of projects? I have almost 50 projects I've divided into multiple keyword collections in one library and about the same in the other. I love having access to all of them, but my computer isn't wild about it. thx

With very large libraries like it appear you have, you need to learn about *external media*.
Managed media (i.e. when all the clips are copied into the library) is great because a library is completely self-contained, but then you need more ram, and hard drive space, because you end with copies of media.
You should read a bit about media management in 10.1.
Organizing media externally will grant a lot more flexibility and improve performance, but requires you to be careful when moving things around, and when archiving.

It looks like using Proxy Media would be the way to go. I started to convert a couple of interviews and it looks like it takes a long time. I have lots of these so it's a pretty big investment of time. I want to make sure this is the right thing to do. If I went ahead and converted all my clips to Proxy, then the already edited projects could play back by switching over to Proxy, yes? Am I right in assuming this will make my playback better? I don't see anything else that would do this. Thanks!

Proxy media can help a lot if the problem is slow playback, motivated by the fact that the drive has trouble keeping up. For example, if there is lots of compositing, or if you use multicam, and your drive has to play back several streams at once, proxy media may be the answer.

You are right that when you have the proxy media created it is a simple switch away.
Also: don't forget to switch back to original/optimized before exporting, in order to export in full quality.

It's great if proxy media works for you, but if the problem is a slow interface, caused by big libraries eating away at your ram, then that alone may not solve the problem. Let us know how it goes.

I'm not sure I have time to transcode all those files and I have no compositing or multi cam - just straight interviews with some pictures added with no moves, etc. I have 16BG of RAM on my MacBook Pro. I wonder if adding more to that will help. I may just have to slog through this project and figure out a better way to manage large projects after. thx again

It would be nice if we had the ability to open some events and not others (as we could with Event Manager X). If I could selects the events I want to work with on a given library, then my system wouldn't be so bogged down by all the events it has to open, no? Is there no way to do this? thx

parkerhqj wrote: It would be nice if we had the ability to open some events and not others (as we could with Event Manager X). If I could selects the events I want to work with on a given library, then my system wouldn't be so bogged down by all the events it has to open, no? Is there no way to do this? thx

You can open and close libraries at will. You don't have to have everything in one library.

The sensible approach is to organize your content in several libraries, in a way that makes sense for you.
You can always open several libraries, and copy or move events from one library to another, if the need arises.

I think the bottom line is: avoid using libraries that are too big.

Thanks. I'm learning that a little too late for this project. I'm trying to come up0 with a way to break the whole thing into multiple libraries, but I seem to always need to have access to most of the media during the edit, so I would have to have multiple libraries open at the same time anyway. I'm not sure if that would speed things up. If I come up with a solution, I'll share it - more likely I'll muddle through and pray they won't want revisions down the road! thx again

I do not understand what the problem is, I understood that with FCP x 10.1.1 it does not move the data, it creates links or references to the media where that media is stored. SO you can have multiple copies of the media in different libraries.

The data created as I understand in tiny in each library, as it is really only a reference to the media, not the actual file, so what is the problem?

Maybe there is a hardware issue, slow drive or low RAM installed?

Yes, keep all media as External Media, and you can load it into multiple Libraries without duplicating whole files. Good catch, Justine!

So the system operates more efficiently if you don't import your files into the libraries? They were all in the events from the earlier version of fcpx. I simply updated them. As a rule of thumb, you keep your media outside of your libraries and go with the referenced files? Or is that just with big jobs? Believe it or not, I watched the Ripple tutorial on this and I'm still lost!

Let's say I started all over again with my unwieldy libraries. I can't suddenly make my files external as they are are in the libraries. Should I split my events into different libraries and leave the files where they are? I'd still need to keep them open at the same time. I feel like I can't go forward and I can't go back. I've tried this on my MacBook Pro and my Mac Pro - each has 16GB of RAM. The Mac Pro is a little faster but still gets bogged down.

FYI - one library has 167GB of footage and the other has 123GB.

And one thing I just noticed - I closed down one of the libraries and the clips from the closed library still played in the project timeline. When I went to reveal in browser I noticed the files pertaining to that sound bite was in the original media folder. So when I bring a file from another library, it copies it over (as it tells you in the prompt) so I don't need to have both libraries open unless I need to bring in more files. Sorry - speaking out loud here an starting to get it a little. thx

With the new Consolidate command you can indeed move your media from Managed to External.

All I'm saying is, if you need the same media inside of several different Libraries at once, use External media. That way you don't have a full second or third or forth copy of the same video clip in each Library eating up precious drive space.
www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/final-cut-p...a-management-toolbox

Ben does indeed mean "Consolidate" and not "Conform"